- Hey everybody.
I am so excited because-- - Arien...
- And you may know her
from her four videos on "Invisible People."
- Yeah. (laughing) - Which I'll link below.
You wanna tell 'em? - No you can tell 'em.
- You sure? - I'm sure.
- She's no longer homeless.
- Nope. - I get asked all the time--
(laughing)
I get asked all the time for updates.
Arien is one of the updates
people ask for constantly. (laughing)
I heard, on the streets, actually,
that you were working. - Yep, I work at Chipotle.
- So I messaged her, I said "Is this true?
"You got a gig?"
And she says "Yeah!
"And I'm staying with somebody, paying rent."
That's really awesome. - Yeah.
- So tell me about it.
- I stay with my friend Rosie.
We've known each other, she used to be homeless as well.
She's got my back, I got hers.
That's why I pay rent to make sure
I'm not a freeloader. (laughing)
I had to choose to change my own reality,
my own life, my own stuff instead of just wishing.
'Cause wish in one hand and,
you know how that saying goes. (laughing)
I was ready to start living and taking care of myself
and stop neglecting myself for other things.
So I had to choose me at the end of the day because...
who's gonna take care of me?
Right? I gotta take care of myself.
- And I gotta preface that, I got to, because...
Arien was lucky enough,
somebody's mother allowed you to stay--
- Mm hmm. - Where you could
shower and wash clothes and get a good night's sleep.
So she could look for a job. - Yep.
- So if that didn't happen,
even though she made the choice to better her life--
- Yeah.
- We still need to help people
so that they can go look for a job and keep a job!
- Exactly, exactly.
It's so funny that I work at a place
that was full of employees that used to judge me
when I was homeless. - Oh wow.
- Yeah, and you know how God said
"I will make thy enemy thy stepping stool?"
For real. (laughing)
- Do they know you? - Yeah they know!
- Oh my gosh.
So they know that you were out here on the streets.
- So they gave me a hard time at first.
But eventually, the more they got to know me,
and realize how genuine and kind I am,
oh look it's the Packers.
Go Packers! (cheering)
Woo!
I'm a cheesehead for life! - Yeah!
- (laughing) Sorry. - No, it's OK.
- Don't edit that out. (laughing)
It's a nice opportunity for people to see me as me
versus as being homeless.
I'm not ashamed of the situation.
I'm not ashamed of my past.
I'm not ashamed of what I went through or my suffering.
So I'm very grateful for it.
Because it made me stronger, it made me more compassionate,
it made me more patient, understanding, and everything.
- I know, I worked really hard behind the scenes
trying to get the county here.
Which they did show up once and gave you clothes.
- Yeah. (laughing)
- I know you were working with various agencies.
- Yeah.
- You came close to housing.
You were on several housing lists.
- Yes. (laughing)
- But it wasn't until somebody allowed you to stay with them
where you had a shower and a safe place to eat
and food and could look for a job
that you were able to better your life!
- Exactly. - So if all those agencies
had actually housed you or provided--
- Then I would've have already had this.
People think that the problem with homelessness
is about having a job.
It's not about having the job, OK?
You can't wash your uniform
if you can't afford to wash your uniform.
You can't afford transportation
if you can't afford transportation and everything.
Housing is so important.
Housing is like the biggest problem
when it comes to homeless people, it's not finances.
I know so many homeless people,
what, 44% of homeless people have jobs.
And that's just a fact.
They have it as statistics. - I think that number's
a little high. - You think it's high?
- There is a growing percentage of people
that work full time jobs and they can't afford
a place to stay so they live in a tent.
- Yeah.
- And that's growing, and that's pretty scary.
That's pretty scary.
- I have friends that have been out here
that they would have multiple jobs,
like two, three jobs, and still be sleeping in a tent
because being homeless is expensive.
A tent is $70. - Yeah.
- You need blankets, you need jackets,
you need food every day.
And every day you don't have a refrigerator
or a stove where you can preserve
and make things last longer.
So it's expensive for homeless people to be homeless.
- So when I first met you-- - Yeah.
- It was over on Sunset. - Yeah.
- Bunch'a years ago. - Yeah. (laughing)
- And then I accidentally ran into you
over on Vine. - Yes.
- Which I seem to run into you, even today
that's where we met! (laughing)
That must be your spot. - Hey!
- Oh my gosh.
I am just...
Speechless, overjoyed, (laughing)
happy that you're off the streets.
- I am too, thank you! - And in fact,
she asked for this video. - Yes I did.
- She said "Let's do an update."
- Yeah I want people to know that I'm safe,
everything's good.
You didn't waste your donations
and I'm very grateful for the people who did
during that time, I'm not asking for any right now.
I just want everybody to know that I'm doing good
that this is the beginning of a new era for me.
I appreciate the support,
I appreciate everybody who's shown love
and understands what I'm going through
and defended me in the comments sections
when other people would talk about me
and my situation like they understood it.
I appreciate everybody.
And I'm thankful for the opportunity
to bring attention to what women have gone through out here.
And to use my situation as a platform to help others.
- You've been sexually attacked.
In fact, we were actually scheduled to do
a fifth video, and she texted me and said "Mark,
"last night something happened."
And understandably...
- This was what, six months ago?
- Yeah, about nine months ago. - Seven months ago?
- Oh nine months? - That's the reality
of women out here on the street.
And youth too, and sometimes men even.
- Yeah it doesn't matter.
This is Hollywood, it's LGBT. (laughing)
- And we need to end homelessness.
We all need to work to end homelessness.
Your voice is important.
Go to invisiblepeople.tv/getinvolved.
Or there's a link down below.
If you live in the United States,
we make it easy for you to Tweet, call,
Facebook or email your legislators
and say let's help these people.
It's starting to rain! - It is starting to rain!
- Oh my gosh, we've been walking in the rain
trying to find a place to do this interview--
- Yeah! (laughing)
- We had a moment where it wasn't.
- Yeah! - Let's say goodbye.
- All right, goodbye everybody!
Mwah!
(chill electronic music)